Ajani's Pridemate is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Complete guide
Ajani's Pridemate is a staple for any deck focused on the healing arts of lifegain. This efficient Cat Soldier grows larger every time its controller receives a boost to their life total, turning defense into a powerful offense. Understanding how to maximize these triggers is key to overwhelming your opponents.
Growing the Pride
Ajani's Pridemate has a triggered ability that watches for any instance of you gaining life. Whether you gain one life or twenty in a single event, the Pridemate receives exactly one +1/+1 counter. The frequency of lifegain matters much more than the total amount gained when trying to grow this creature rapidly.
Step-by-Step Resolution
When a spell or ability causes you to gain life, or a creature with lifelink deals damage, the life is added to your total first. Immediately after, Ajani's Pridemate's ability triggers and is put onto the stack. Players can respond to this trigger with spells or abilities. Once the trigger resolves, you place a +1/+1 counter on Ajani's Pridemate.
Timing and Lethal Damage
It is important to note that state-based actions are checked before triggers can resolve. If Ajani's Pridemate takes lethal damage at the same moment you gain life (for example, during combat), it will be destroyed and sent to the graveyard before its ability has a chance to put a counter on it. Additionally, in team formats like Two-Headed Giant, only life you gain triggers the ability; life gained by a teammate does not count.
When to Play It
Ajani's Pridemate is best played early in the game to maximize the number of lifegain triggers it can see. It pairs perfectly with repeatable sources of healing and planeswalkers that generate tokens of the Pridemate themselves, allowing you to build an army that grows in unison.
Interaction examples
If you activate the +1 ability of Ajani, Strength of the Pride while controlling Ajani's Pridemate, you gain life equal to your total creatures and planeswalkers. Even if you gain 5 life this way, it counts as one single event, so Ajani's Pridemate receives one +1/+1 counter.
You can use the -4 ability of Ajani Resolute to create a token copy of Ajani's Pridemate. If you later use the 0 ability to gain 1 life, both the original Ajani's Pridemate and the new token will trigger, each receiving a +1/+1 counter. Simultaneously, Ajani Resolute will gain a loyalty counter from its own passive ability.
Esper SentinelWhile Esper Sentinel doesn't gain life on its own, its tax ability scales with its power. If you have an emblem from Ajani Resolute and use lifegain to put counters on Ajani's Pridemate, you can focus your strategy on keeping your life total high while your Pridemate acts as a massive blocker, forcing your opponent to cast noncreature spells into a high-power Sentinel tax.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Ajani's Pridemate
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
The ability of Ajani's Pridemate triggers just once for each life-gaining event, whether it's 1 life from Dazzling Angel or 4 life from Apothecary Stomper.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
If Ajani's Pridemate is dealt lethal damage at the same time that you gain life, it won't receive a counter from its ability in time to save it.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
Each creature with lifelink dealing combat damage causes a separate life-gaining event. For example, if two creatures you control with lifelink deal combat damage at the same time, Ajani's Pridemate's ability will trigger twice. However, if a single creature you control with lifelink deals combat damage to multiple creatures, players, planeswalkers, and/or battles at the same time (perhaps because it has trample or was blocked by more than one creature), the ability will trigger only once.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
If you gain an amount of life "for each" of something or "equal to the number" of something, that life is gained as one event and Ajani's Pridemate's ability triggers only once.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
In a Two-Headed Giant game, life gained by your teammate won't cause Ajani's Pridemate's ability to trigger, even though it caused your team's life total to increase.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Popular combos
Real combos played by the community, sorted by popularity.
Shalai and Hallar + Ajani's Pridemate
- 1Give Shalai and Hallar lifelink, if needed.
- 2Gain life.
- 3Ajani's Pridemate triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on it.
- 4Shalai and Hallar triggers, dealing damage to an opponent and causing you to gain life.
- 5Repeat from step 3.
Agatha's Soul Cauldron + Ajani's Pridemate + Walking Ballista
- 1Activate Ajani's Pridemate by using Walking Ballista's ability by removing a +1/+1 counter from it, dealing 1 damage to any target and causing you to gain 1 life due to its lifelink.
- 2Ajani's Pridemate triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on it.
- 3Repeat.
Agatha's Soul Cauldron + Ajani's Pridemate + Triskelion
- 1Activate Ajani's Pridemate by using Triskelion's ability by removing a +1/+1 counter from it, dealing 1 damage to any target and causing you to gain 1 life due to its lifelink.
- 2Ajani's Pridemate triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on it.
- 3Repeat.
Ajani's Pridemate + Animation Module + Ajani's Welcome + Ashnod's Altar
- 1Cause a creature to enter the battlefield under your control.
- 2Ajani's Welcome triggers, causing you to gain 1 life.
- 3Ajani's Pridemate triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on itself.
- 4Animation Module triggers, causing you to pay
to create a 1/1 Servo artifact creature token. - 5The Servo enters the battlefield, triggering Ajani's Welcome.
- 6Holding priority, activate Ashnod's Altar by sacrificing the Servo, adding
. - 7Resolve the Ajani's Welcome trigger, causing you to gain 1 life.
- 8Repeat from step 3.
Agatha's Soul Cauldron + Spike Feeder + Ajani's Pridemate
- 1Activate Ajani's Pridemate using Spike Feeder's second ability by removing a +1/+1 counter from it, causing you to gain 2 life.
- 2Ajani's Pridemate triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on itself.
- 3Repeat.
All Will Be One + Ajani's Pridemate + Exquisite Blood
- 1Gain life.
- 2Ajani's Pridemate triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on it
- 3All Will Be One triggers, dealing 1 damage to an opponent.
- 4Exquisite Blood triggers, causing you to gain 1 life.
- 5Repeat from step 2.
All Will Be One + Ajani's Pridemate + Bloodthirsty Conqueror
- 1Gain life.
- 2Ajani's Pridemate triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on it
- 3All Will Be One triggers, dealing 1 damage to an opponent.
- 4Bloodthirsty Conqueror triggers, causing you to gain 1 life.
- 5Repeat from step 2.
Agatha's Soul Cauldron + Ajani's Pridemate + Deathbringer Thoctar
- 1Activate Ajani's Pridemate by using Deathbringer Thoctar's ability by removing a +1/+1 counter from it, dealing 1 damage to any target and causing you to gain 1 life due to its lifelink.
- 2Ajani's Pridemate triggers, putting a +1/+1 counter on it.
- 3Repeat.
Interactions with other cards
These cards' text mentions Ajani's Pridemate.
+1: You gain life equal to the number of creatures you control plus the number of planeswalkers you control. −2: Create a 2/2 white Cat Soldier creature token named Ajani's Pridemate with "Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on this token." 0: If you have at least 15 life more than your starting life total, exile Ajani and each artifact and creature your opponents control.
Whenever you gain life, put a loyalty counter on Ajani. 0: You gain 1 life. −4: Create a 2/2 white Cat Soldier creature token named Ajani's Pridemate with "Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on this token." −10: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control get +2/+2."
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Ajani's Pridemate
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